Friday, 3 October 2014

Sale of the century

“One point seven... eight... nine... Two. The bid is two million. Two point one... two... three... four... Two point four... I have two point four... Anyone else? Two point five at the back there, six... seven... eight... Two point eight... The bid is two point eight... Anyone else at two point eight? Going once... Twice... Sold to the man in the green jacket for two point eight million credits.”

Zaphor strolled out of the auction room clutching his newly-purchased document feeling rather pleased with himself. Two point eight mill' was a small price to pay for the twenty first century. The price would have been much higher if any of the regular hunters had been bidding.

Luckily, Baphram and Peoren were at present on safari in the first century, plenty of swords and sandals escapades to get themselves involved in there.

Duggle was somewhere near the beginning of the twentieth century, slaughtering his way through some sprawling trench-based conflict. Zaphor shuddered at the thought of wading through all that mud and barbed wire.

Rumour had it that poor Genevieve La Rouge had been having fun in the middle of a civil war in England somewhere around the middle of the seventeenth century, and had been tried and found guilty of witchcraft, and was burnt at the stake. “She always did take risks did that one. I blame her father for giving her too much self confidence.” Thought Zaphor. But he still made a mental note to look up a fellow named Matthew Hopkins if he ever found himself in that era. Zaphor and Genevieve had never been really close, but they were still in the trade, and he felt her loss.

Zaphor studied the paperwork closely. Exclusive rights to one year's unrestricted safari in the twenty first century. He rubbed his hands in excited anticipation.“Yes!” Thought Zaphor. “Fortune has certainly smiled my way today. Two point eight mill', a snap at twice the price. Boy am I going to have myself some fun.”

His timeleap car was in for service until tomorrow, so he would spend the rest of the day packing clothes and weaponry, picking out a few choice twenty first century conflicts to get himself involved in. Oh boy, he could barely wait.

Zaphor hummed happily to himself as he stepped onto the conveyor walkway that would take him homewards.

19 comments:

Ah the madness of the man! We don't need them from the future there are plenty here already! You know this reminded me of a movie I think it was one where you bought your dream, can't remember now what it was called - was Arni in it? goes off to try and rack her brain ^_^

I have seen that film several times, I like Arnie, he doesn't seem to mind the odd spot of humour aimed in his direction.

In 'Total Recall' the company "Rekall" implanted false holiday memories for a fee, unfortunately in Arnie's case they found more in his head than they should have.One of my favourite parts was when he was in Mars border control, and his female disguise began to malfunction. :-)

Back in the 80s there was a series by Simon Hawke called the Time Wars series. At the outset of the series, in the future all wars were fought in the past. Combatants would be transported through time to hash out their differences.

After the first book the series took on a bit more of an espionage storyline but the concept is interesting. With all the wars we experience and have gone through there is more than enough opportunity for future wars to share in our bloodshed.

With all the repetitive nature of history, I wouldn't be a bit surprised. It seems like things are just as Solomon described: there is nothing new under the sun. And as we see current events unfold, how mankind does the same thing over and over, only with different clothes and different toys, you can't help but ask, "Haven't we learned anything yet?" The unique aspect of this story, however, is how the participants buy the opportunity to create havoc, or in this case an exclusive opportunity to create havoc. Maybe we should start comparing photos over time to see if we can spot any similarities of appearances. Maybe then, we can burn a few of them at the stake before they can cause any more future problems.

Wouldn't it be a turn up for the books if evidence of this happening was revealed, Stephen?I remember in the movie "Twelve Monkeys", when the truth finally dawned on the woman that Bruce Willis was telling the truth about being from the future, and the supporting evidence of him in the WW1 photo.

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On here you will find my flash-fiction. Short stories of 1,000 words or less. Ranging in genre from Sci/fi - Horror - Humour - Crime - Slice of life - and occasionally, Gross+Grisly. All comments received are very much appreciated. Thank you for reading.